Ring of Fire: The Best of June Carter Cash (CD - 2005)

Personnel: June Carter Cash (vocals); Johnny Cash (vocals).

The daughter of the Carter Family's Maybelle Carter and the wife of Johnny Cash, June Carter Cash was an integral figure in country music. Not only a proficient autoharp and guitar player, she was also a fine vocalist and a witty comedienne. The 12-track RING OF FIRE compilation draws from two distinct periods in Carter Cash's life--the late 1960s, when June won the heart of the Man in Black, and the late '90s/early '00s, the era shortly before her death when she recorded two Grammy-winning solo albums. Many of the songs here (most notably her spare take on the title track, which she co-penned for a then-wayward Cash, and the touching "Will You Miss Me When I'm Gone?") fall into the latter category, but the collection does include the lively "Jackson" and the gentle "If I Were a Carpenter," two duets with Cash that were staples of their late-'60s concerts. This concise set serves as an excellent introduction to June Carter Cash, and is bolstered further by three previously unreleased tracks. minimize